Senate Bill Introduced to Tackle Online Piracy

A revised version of a contentious bill aiming to combat online piracy - the Protect IP Act of 2011 - was introduced in the U.S. Senate on May 12th. The proposed legislation would provide the Attorney General (and in certain cases the rights holders themselves) the ability to seek a court order against a website “dedicated to infringing activities”. The resulting court order could be used to compel various third parties - such as advertising networks, payment processors and Domain Name System providers - to cut ties with the offending site. The order could also be served on search engines obliging them to take reasonable measures to expeditiously remove or disable access to the site.

Supporters of the bill claim it is necessary to protect American companies and consumers from non-U.S. websites offering pirated content and counterfeit goods to Americans. Existing legislation such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the 2008 PRO-IP Act are largely ineffective against non-U.S. websites. This bill purports to address this gap by eliminating the financial viability of infringing websites operating outside the U.S.

Critics say that the bill’s over-breadth will allow improper Internet censorship, and that it provides the defendant with little, if any, opportunity to respond to allegations. More generally, it is alleged that censuring non-domestic websites for their failure to comply with domestic legislation would set a dangerous precedent. Critics fear the imposition of domestic laws on foreign websites would detrimentally affect the global Internet; a situation which would be exacerbated if other governments were to adopt similar techniques.

For additional information, visit:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20062419-38.html#ixzz1MWSLoQLF
http://shorl.com/dybrefrahepidro

For a copy of the bill, visit:
http://leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-PROTECTIPAct.pdf

Volume IX

Senate Bill Introduced to Tackle Online Piracy